Page 208 - James Caan - Get the Job you Really Want

The jc twist

On that day or two you spend with a new company,
double-check your gut feeling about the culture of the
company. Because that’s not something you can pick up
fully in an hour, or from a couple of interviews. It is not
something that’s written down: it’s an emotion, it’s how

you feel. A full day or two within a business, spent around
the sta≠, in di≠erent meetings, maybe going out for lunch
with somebody on your team, will give you a good sense

of the culture. At the end of that you may feel, ‘This is
me to a T.’ But equally you may feel it’s not going to work
out. There is still time to say no. Better to spend one day
finding that out than to lose months of your life stuck in a
work environment you don’t enjoy.

Whatever your job function – HR, sales and marketing,
finance – any time you can spend getting to know your new
job in advance will pay dividends. If your job is in finance, ask
to have a set of accounts that you can study before you start.
If it’s a sales position, can you take a look at the customer

base, study the CRM system, see how the IT system works?
Ask for a copy of the company’s organigram, which you
may not have been given at the interview stage, so you can

understand how the business is put together.
At Hamilton Bradshaw we don’t wait for you to call, we
call you. If your job is as an investment director or investment
manager, and you’re going to be looking after two or three

196 get the job you really want